Ghost Flash
by Puckabrinaluver
Summary: Wally's dead. This is a big problem. Even bigger one? He isn't done in this world. So, he comes back. As a ghost. The catch? Only Dick can see him. Birdflash Dedicated to prompt poster.


silversnakegirl:

Ok, I'm not sure how this works but I have a birdflash plot bunny.

What if after wally dies he comes back as a ghost, but only dick can see him. Because of this wally slowly falls in love with him. 

**Okay, so keep in mind: I am well aware that Wally's speedster powers would have him healing unlike any human… But I need him to be vulnerable for this to work out. Pretend it is how it is if I get something wrong, okay? Unless I make a huge mistake in his powers/personality. Or a small grammar error. Campeche?**

**Dammit, I told myself I wouldn't start another story. So guess what I go and do.**

**Seven Years Prior: Third Person POV**

Flashing lights against a blue sky filled Dick's vision. He was in a state of panic.

"Wally!" He cried, watching them take his unconscious best friend into the back of the emergency vehicle.

"Dick, calm down, he will be alright," his mentor, Bruce, stroked his back while saying this, trying to get the boy to come back from his state of hysteria.

"Didn't you see that!? He was shot! They won't even let me in the ambulance! How is that fair?! He's going to- HEY!" Bruce, deciding that the only way to get what he wants done is to force his adopted son into the car***. **The boy, being as smart as he is, realized what was going on quickly and snapped his seatbelt on.

Bruce followed the ambulance, using his knowledge of the street to catch up faster than most could.

And, to think, all Wally and Dick had been doing was playing in the park. The bullet was supposed to be for Bruce Wayne's adopted son, not the redheaded kid it had hit.

"Of course Wally would jump in front of the bullet! God, what an idiot! I am going to fucking murder him!" Bruce gave Dick a bat-glare that shut him right up. He wasn't exactly supposed to swear- you know, being eight years old and all. But criminals did it so often it didn't even register in his mind anymore. Bats didn't help much, either.

"Sorry," he muttered. "I still can't believe he did that! It should have been me who is in critical condition, not him! Why couldn't he just let the stupid shooter hit his target?" Bruce gave an even harder glare in his direction.

"Don't ever say that. Just pray that he comes out of this alright. You know how it's in his nature to recklessly go around saving as many lives as he can. Yours included. If he hadn't, _you_ might have been dead!" At that, Bruce's prodigy was sulking, praying mentally that his friend wasn't dead. Dick turned to look at the ambulance directly ahead of him, and caught a peek of himself in the mirror.

There were tears streaming down his face from under his sun glasses. He hastily wiped them off his cheeks and now felt them slip silently from his eyes.

'Darn it,' he thought. 'Batman's going to think I'm a big baby. How un-asterous. And,' He added, 'If Wally- No, _when _Wally comes out of the hospital, he'll make fun of me for crying. He can't possibly die. He's Wally.' The only one who is a superhero with him. The only one who understands. They- FINALLY!- pulled up at the hospital, and rushed in after the paramedics.

They passed nurses, Bruce using his status to get past the numerous nurses and doctors. Dick could see Wally laid down on the stretcher, about 30 feet in front of him. He maneuvered around obstacles, keeping up easily with his partner.

He used his jacket sleeve to remove the water forming in his eyes, finding it rather bothersome to keep tears from falling from his darkened frames.

They _finally _(everything feeling incredibly slow to the fast-moving Dick) made it to the operating room.

They had removed the bullet during the drive there, the youngest noted. They started fixing him up, and Dick was frightened even more by the amount of blood.

It seemed like hours before the doctors got his heartbeat stabilized **(Aw, crap. His heart beats faster than a human's… Ignore me. Just go with it. My apologies for writing this inaccurately)**. But they did. Wally slept on, and Dick relaxed. Not enough to cry, though.

He looked around, comforted by the fact that his eyes were hidden. Of course Wally's Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris were there to make sure Wally was okay. His parents had yet to get there, since they had to use roads. They were getting to Gotham as fast as they can.

Bruce silently petted his adopted son's head. Barry, who was standing by Wally's sleeping form, patted Dick's shoulder with the hand that wasn't holding Wally's, knowing that it had to be traumatizing for him too.

The heart monitor picked up speed.

"Huh?" Every head in the room (that wasn't already on him) turned to face the waking-up Wally. He blinked his eyes a few times, looking around the room. "'Ey, an'body go' food?"

Barry was, literally, gone in a flash, then back, holding some McDonalds that Wally shoved in his face immediately. He looked much better, the color returning to his face behind his freckles.

"Wally!" Dick said, rushing over to his side, sniveling a bit.

Wally frowned. "Are you alright?"

To everyone's surprise, Dick reached across the bed and smacked him across the face. It was a loud slap.

"Robin!" His mentor scolded, keeping in mind that Wally didn't know his or Robin's secret identity. Even he had sunglasses on just for that purpose. Barry looked vaguely mad, and nearly said something, but Wally's Aunt Iris stuck out a hand to keep them both from stopping the boy. She knew that he had his reasons.

"What was that for!" Wally demanded, sitting up in his bed. The offending boy pushed him back down on the bed.

"I'm perfectly fine, dummy!" he hissed, glaring at the older boy. "It's you that got shot! How stupid can you… How stupid can you…" Dick couldn't finish his sentence, instead hiding his face and breaking down. He fell onto a chair with a 'fump', sobbing into his hands.

Wally was staring disbelievingly at the boy crying next to him, not able to find words. Everyone, save for Wally and Dick, exchanged looks. Bruce cleared his throat, obviously uncomfortable.

"I will go find Wally some real food."

Iris reached for Wally's hand, squeezing it a bit, and followed Bruce out the room. As she left, she motioned for Barry to do the same. Barry watched the heart monitor for a couple beats, then grudgingly left, knowing Wallace would be fine.

"Uh, Rob?" The speedster asked hesitantly. This was dangerous territory. Robin didn't cry. Only the softer side, the regular human boy, did.

He's never been exposed to this much of Robin's secret identity before.

He ignored the pain and sat up, unhooking himself from the IV he had in his arm. He only had to be able to move a bit. Dick, picking up on his movement, looked up.

"What are you doing?" He hissed, reaching out to stop his friend. "You're going to hurt yourself!"

Wally brought up a hand to stop him. He turned a bit red when he realized his shirt was gone. 'It could have been my pants,' Wally thought, grateful that wasn't the case. He reached down and pushed Robin on the chair he had sat up from. Rob didn't fight. The younger looked up at the redhead, hiccupping a bit.

Wally smiled down at him, then slowly wrapped his arms around his friend.

"Are you okay?" He repeated, knowing the answer wasn't "Perfectly fine". Rob shook his head, wrapping his arms around the other boy.

"You know who that bullet was for." Wally nodded.

"Yeah. But, that leads to another question that I have. You might not be able to answer it though." He added. Rob smiled.

"Go ahead, shoot."

"Well, did they figure out you're Robin, or did they know your secret identity?" he started out. Dick sighed, having had expected this to be the path that his friend took.

"He didn't know I was Robin. He knew me by my real name." That leads to the next question.

"Who are you?" Wally whispered, hoping that Robin would answer. Not expecting him to.

"Walls?" he questioned. Wally tensed up as he felt the sunglasses being removed. "You can look now."

He looked down into the bluest eyes he had ever seen.

Realization dawned on him. "You mean you're-"

"Richard Greyson, in the flesh." He gave a cheeky, tear-streaked smile.

"And Batman's... Wow." Richard's smile widened.

"Yeah. Pretty cool, right? Oh, and call me Dick."

"Dick?" Wally asked, wiping some of the boy's tears away (much to Richard's embarrassment).

"Yeah?"

"I promise that you will never have to cry because of me again." He meant it to. Dick felt a few more tears roll down his cheeks. As the door opened, he placed his sunglasses back on his nose and snuggled into Wally's chest, hugging him close. Wally returned the embrace.

Iris, who had walked through the door, smiled, then frowned.

"Wallace! You get back into bed right now!" Wally looked down at his best friend and rolled his eyes, knowing that the blue ones staring at him through tinted glass did the same.

"Yeah, Wallace, back to bed," he teased, helping Wally's aunt get him under the covers. Bruce and Barry came back with the food, handing some out to everyone.

It took a half an hour for Wally's parents to get there, which caused Bruce to want to leave. Batman came back and had the hospital release Wally before they could figure out that his wounds were already mostly healed, calling it 'Justice League business'.

**Present Day: Dick's POV**

I didn't know that today would be the day my best friend died.

The day had started out normally: I woke up at the crack of dawn, doing training with Bruce and eating that (shudder) _healthy _food that Alfred made. He insisted it was for my own good. I was eager to go see the Team, but, sadly, I still had that eight hours of school to go through.

School is much too easy for me.

The language was boring (even the English class. You would think the kids born speaking English would be advanced enough in the language to move on from words like 'Narcissist' and 'Abomination'), I knew every answer in Math, and History- I had access to first-hand accounts. Why would I need some inaccurate half-truths that even the teacher couldn't remember straight? At least I got to see some of the Team from afar.

The minutes rolled by, and I was the first one out of class every time the bell rang. Finally, when the last bell rang, I sped out the door so fast I would have made Wally proud.

I threw my leg over the motorcycle, started its engine, and standing in front of me was none other than Bruce Wayne himself. He seemed more dark than usual.

It was freaky.

"Uh, Bruce…?" Crap. This is scary. "What happened?"

"There was an accident," he started. "Both Barry and Wallace were hospitalized." My heart nearly stopped.

"_What?!" _I yelled, not caring how loud I was being. People turned and looked in our direction, and I softened my voice, "Are they okay? How!" Bruce looked regretful.

"Barry is in stable condition, and Wally is…" he leaned over and put his hands on my shoulders. "They were in a car crash. They had to be seen driving today, so they took the car, and even they weren't fast enough to get out of the way. The car hit Wally's side. The driver of the other car, identified to be Carren Ross, died on impact. It seems like a real accident, not something that was planned, but we are looking into it. Wally was flown to the hospital, but they didn't make it on time. He died in the helicopter. Even his super-healing didn't help."

My heart shattered.

"Get dressed, and we'll go and see him." That means he was in the League's hospital, not the civilian one. Shakily, I got off my bike, and walked it to the limo that was no doubt waiting for our arrival.

I could feel Bruce's eyes on me the whole ride.

I heard him whisper softly to me, "I am so sorry." The minute we got to the manor, I ran up the stairs, flying past Alfred and into my bedroom. Okay, Dick, just get dressed. I didn't allow tears to come to my eyes, and pushed down the anger and panic swelling in my chest. Being trained by Batman made things like that easier to do.

I slipped off my clothing, avoiding chocking as best as I could. I could hear are my own dry sobs, the blood pounding in my ears, and the noises that the clothes I wore made when dropped to the floor.

Zip.

Swoosh.

Pmph.

Repeat.

I focused on that instead. 'Wally isn't okay,' chimed in the negative part of my mind. 'Wally has survived through worse,' put in the other part, 'So, why would he… why now?' My heart was crumbling apart. I slipped on my mask, combed the gel out of my hair, and was ready to go. All my movements felt sluggish and forced.

Not my best friend.

Not Wally!

Anyone but him!

I opened the door to join Bruce-now dressed as Batman-and together we walked down the hall, me refusing to let tears fall. I could feel darkness start to swell up in my chest, the hate of life and unfairness creep up on my moving form, causing me to clench and unclench my fists.

I could feel the heated stare of Bruce on my head, unmoving and eerie as fuck. God, why would he die?! If there was anyone who deserved to live, it was him. He did so much for everyone! We zeta-beamed to the hospital, and walked down the busy hall. I followed Batman, him using his status to get past all the nurses.

It was a major case of daja-vu.

We passed tons of rooms, and with each door that we flew past caused the knot in my stomach to get tighter and tighter.

"Don't think about it," I found myself muttering with every step I took. Bats gave me a look, but didn't say anything. He ducked into a room, and I followed suit.

There he was, surrounded by his family. All were obviously mourning, everyone, including his uncle and father, were in tears. Barry had a cast on his right arm. Where the car hit them. I could see Wally's, pale, freckled face. There was blood everywhere.

Sobs broke free of my clenched teeth, and I broke down. I quickly ran out of the room, bolting down the hallway and ignoring Bruce's calls. I couldn't stop myself from asking 'Why' or muttering the streams of curse words directed to everyone, especially this 'Carrie' person as I sprinted into a dark, empty hospital room. Bruce followed me in, and when I collapsed in a chair, like I had those many years before, he kneeled down in front of me.

It was a horrible thought, but for a moment there, I felt glad that she had died. That she had deserved it.

If I voiced this thought, Bruce didn't scold me for it. Nor the words that would have usually gotten me in trouble with both him and Alfred. Batman leaned over to hug me, awkwardly at that.

I latched onto him, drowning in my own tears. It might have been a couple minutes, hours, or even days before I calmed down.

"He…He was my b-best f-f-friend." Bruce softly moved his hand in circular motion on my back, like he had the night that now pales in comparison to today. "How can he be…? He didn't deserv-ve t-this. He deserv-ved to grow up! To get married! Have a f-family! Now he doesn't get any of that! And…"I started hiccupping against the still form of the Dark Knight.

"The Team?"

"They don't know yet." I stood up shakily.

"I should go tell them," I said, wobbling towards the door.

"No, Dick, you're going to hurt yourself. Red Tornado will tell them."

"What else am I supposed to do! You saw the body! There's nothing I can do! If I go in and…" I strode out the door, my eyes empty. Bruce followed me back to the Bat Cave, and watched as I hopped on my R-Cycle. "I'll be back."

I went riding.

I knew I'd probably get distracted and end up crashing. I'm not entirely opposed to the idea. I cut off people in the street, not that they necessarily minded, I was Robin after all. I rode on the side walk when I couldn't get passed cars in the street (earning myself a few flipped birds. But I didn't pay any attention to that, more important things occupying my mind) and went at least double the speed limit at all times.

When I got to my friend's Uncle's house, no one was there. Not that I expected anyone to be, since they were all still with the body, but I was happier that I was alone. I snuck in easily, and when one of the security cameras turned to face me, I looked pointedly at it. Mocking the thing. Everyone probably already knew where I had headed anyways.

Where else would I be?

Unless I was wrapped around a pole somewhere… That was too selfish for anyone, especially Robin, to do. I wouldn't help anything by dying; I'd only make the pain worse for everyone else. Including the kids who looked up to my alter ego.

"What about the ones who looked up to him?" I asked no one, wiping my nose on the back of my glove.

"What are they going to think?" Everyone would miss him. I walked slowly through the living room and into the kitchen, then past the stove to the stairs, then silently up them. My 'Ninja-Skills', as my friend dubbed them, paid off tremendously for things like this.

I floated past Barry and Iris's room, the bathroom, and the closet, until I made it to Wally's room. He usually lived with his uncle, since he was always learning more things about his powers and they are easier to control here.

This was the room I was in when I first realized my feelings for Wally West are more than friendly.

I lifted my hand to open the door, and for a moment found that I couldn't. I balled up my hand into a fist, and set it on the door. I reached my other hand up and took my mask off before entering the room. Wally's rule stated 'You can't come in 'ere with that mask on! No sunglasses either, I'm your best friend. I've seen those eyes of yours!' I had complained at first, but I always made sure to follow the rule.

Now I wouldn't have to…

I don't know why I thought this room would look any different. It was just like I remembered. Clothes strewn about the room, hot actress photos hung up on the wall (Kid Flash got to meet a bunch of people), and pictures of his family and friends all over his desk that was set against the far wall.

It was duller than usual, though, as if the room already had accepted the fact it wasn't getting its inhabitant back. I quietly made my way through the room, careful not to step on or move anything. I sat down on the bed, making it creak slightly.

"Remember when we sat here, not even a week ago?" I asked no one. "Remember how you complained about the algebra test you had to take today?" Wally had, when I visited on Saturday.

"Well, I bet you passed. I didn't tutor you for nothing." I gave a small, broken laugh. It was cut off quickly.

"I guess we will never know now."

I smoothed the covers next to me, where he'd usually be sitting. Probably talking my ear off.

"I'm such a coward. I can't even stand in that hospital without becoming a baby. I know I am not helping your family get through this very well, in fact, they're probably worried about me too. Wow, I'm shit at this. But… I promise to attend your funeral. After all, that's what you do for the one you love…" I had started crying again, bringing a pillow up to my face to stop the noises from escaping my throat. After a bit, I brought the pillow away and half-laughed half-sobbed.

"Dude, I'm sorry, I got your pillow wet. How embarrassing… Hey, did Barry ever put a camera in here? Hopefully not, because he'll check them and see… Whatever." I stood up, slouching quite a bit.

"At least it was an accident that you died, eh Walls? Or else, I'd have someone _else _to hunt down. You know how I hate doing that," and I could almost hear my friend respond "Yeah, you complain about it every other sentence."

It made me feel better.

"Time to keep up on my promise to burn all your stuff, like I said I would," I joked, walking to the desk. I knew that the… Erm… _Stuff_ he didn't want anyone to see was in the top drawer, so I opened it, and frowned.

The only thing that was in there was a small black box. Stuck to the top was a post-it that read "Dickie".

" I can't believe you even write my name like that! Oh, well. What's this?" I muttered, picking the thing up. I opened the box, and inside of it was a ring. It was a thumb ring, decorated with little symbols that I couldn't place. I felt myself getting emotional again. I pushed it aside.

"You can take that, since it's yours," said Barry from the doorway. I jumped, not having heard him come in. That was unusual. Hopefully he just got here. I turned and faced the man, who was looking down at me with a sad smile fixed on his features.

"Thank you," I said, sincerely, slipping my glove off and placing the ring on my thumb.

"We got it for your birthday," Barry continued, walking past the dirty clothes to me. I honestly didn't care that my eyes were uncovered, since Barry had long since known who I was.

"Really?" I asked, though I didn't doubt Barry in the slightest.

"My birthday is so far away though… Like two months. Did he always buy my presents this early?" Barry nodded.

"About three months before every time. You truly were his best friend." I hugged him, obviously startling the older man. He hugged back.

"I'm not going to say 'I'm sorry' or 'Don't blame yourself'," I whispered to Barry. "You'll get plenty of that from everyone else. I'm just going to say thank you." I could feel his shock.

"What do you mean 'Thank you'? I got him ki-"

"Thank you. Thank you so much for making Wally West who he was. He was the greatest friend, the best superhero, and an amazing person to everyone. I hope you know who made him that loveable," I panicked a bit at my word choice. That sounded a lot like a confession. But, thankfully, Barry seemed to take it the way I had meant it.

"I didn't do much… He was just a good kid with a big heart." That they could both agree on. I let go, slipping my mask and my glove back on.

"Richard?" questioned the Flash, watching me walk to the door.

"Yeah?" I responded, ignoring my usual rule of not responding to that with my mask on.

"Can you come back tomorrow to help clear this room out? I bet you want some things out of here." I actually hadn't thought of that yet.

"Uh, sure." My voice sounded dead.

"'Kay, see you later." His voice sounded dead too. I gave a small farewell gesture, then walked down the stairs.

It was the second day that reality sunk in. I'd never be able hang out with Wally again. Never take him out for an impossibly big meal, or do any missions with the speedster. I'd never be able to look into those big eyes of his, or tell him…

The Team all tried to communicate with me.

I ignored it, knowing Batman would tell me if there was a mission and that they wanted to tell me I had people to talk to. I don't need any more people to talk to, thank you very much. I have plenty of those.

Yet, I chose to keep it in my mind, only sometimes talking to the air. As if Wally were standing there.

I headed back over to the house to help like I said I would. I took Wally's science books for my own collection, some of Wally's clothes (without anyone noticing, mind you. That would have been hard to explain, since he was way bigger than my lithe frame), and some of the pictures that the family had copies of.

For the most part, I helped move things into boxes for Wally's parents to take. I had never really gotten close to his parents, but I've talked with Iris a bunch in the past. No one said much to each other today.

Once the room was cleared out, leaving only the desk and bed, I left. I didn't want to face them any longer than I had to at the moment.

As I walked out the door, Iris told me, tears in her eyes, that the funeral would be in two days.

I sped home, then immediately went into my room. I dumped the shirts that I had stolen from the house in a drawer Alfred knew better than to look in (that being said, I had no bad things whatsoever. It was Wally's idea of a joke to make both Bats and Alfred think I have a thing for guys, which was succeeded by putting some gay porn magazines in my drawer for the Butler to find. I'm just glad it was a joke, and that Wally hadn't figured it out, though I was mad that both my parental and grandfather figure knew, or at least suspected).

Alfred and Bruce were talking with low voices down the hall, and I caught mine and Wally's name a few times. Sick and tired of the talking, I hefted myself up off my bed and pulled on shorts and a muscle shirt.

I loudly opened the door and made a show of waltzing past the two traitors that were discussing me behind my back. Alfred looked sympathetic as I walked to the gym, but Bruce just stared at me.

I made sure to stand up straighter than usual.

Once the gym doors closed, I was everywhere, doing flip after flip and turn after turn. It would have made anyone watching become awestruck. My parents would have been proud.

I numbed my mind, refusing to remember why I was in there in the first place, until I was sweating so hard that I slipped off the bar.

"Oof," I muttered, rubbing my sore behind. I was just glad I didn't land on my ankle or somewhere equally as dangerous and stupid. I got up, and grabbed one of the towels Alfred must have set out at some point or another. I hadn't noticed him come in.

Deciding it was the best course of action, I headed over to the showers. Usually, I takes really quick showers, but this time… I decided I don't care. I stayed under the scalding spray for a good half hour, sobbing.

I hadn't cried this much in a long time, so it made me hurt to have this many tears streaming down my face at any given time.

Finally, when I was numb to the bone and all sorts of wrinkly, I shut off the water and got out. I didn't even notice the cold air. I grabbed a couple more towels, wrapping one around my waist, and walked back to my room.

I dried off, becoming so drowsy I couldn't see straight, and laid down, still wearing the first towel and using the other as a blanket. I fell quickly into a nice, dreamless sleep.

***That sounds really bad**.

**Erm, anyways… Here you go! Have a nice day now!**


End file.
